IMCG Corporate Strategy and Action Plan (2007 - 2010)

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Corporate Strategy (adopted by the General Assembly in Besancon, France 2002)

Introduction

The beginnings
In 1984, a widely felt need for international exchange on mire conservation issues led to the foundation of the International Mire Conservation Group (IMCG). Its nucleus then was "Western" Europe with its many nations, its long history of peatland exploitation, and continuing threats to its large diversity of peatlands. Since then, a group of research scientists, consultants, government agency specialists, representatives from NGO's, and peatland site managers has been meeting on a regular basis to discuss national and international aspects of mire conservation in a relatively unstructured but open forum.

Development
The global developments of the 1990s changed the mire arena considerably. Geopolitical changes enabled people, knowledge, and ideas to cross the former Iron Curtain in both directions. The internationalisation of economic structures (EU, GATT) necessitated more information exchange and cooperation. The Internet facilitated improved worldwide networks, information exchange, and contact between individuals and organisations. New integral concepts (sustainability, wise use…) and international conventions (Ramsar, CBD, UNFCCC…) defined a long-term and global perspective for problems that were hitherto considered to be only regional. These developments also affected the IMCG.

Consolidation
The IMCG network expanded to include more people from many more countries. Meetings were increasingly held outside of "Western" Europe. The network was challenged to engage in international projects and to intervene in global developments. Gradually the IMCG evolved from a forum for international information exchange to a "global player" that is capable of contributing to mire conservation in a coordinated and structured fashion. Consequently, at its Congress in Quebec (Canada, August 2000) the IMCG decided to formalize its structure and primary objectives.

"The Society's objectives («the objects») are to provide and maintain a network of specialists who:
a. internationally promote, encourage and, where appropriate, co-ordinate the conservation of mires and related ecosystems; and
b. internationally enhance the exchange of information and experience relating to mires and factors affecting them." IMCG constitution article 2

The IMCG's First Corporate Strategy
At the 2002 IMCG General Assembly in Besançon (France), it was agreed that the IMCG would benefit from and become more effective as an organisation if it developed a Corporate Strategy. Such a document would - provide a basis for organisational continuity and legitimacy within IMCG and - provide decision making and objective transparency within its membership and to the "outside world". This strategy communicates the IMCG's mission, vision, values, and aims. It will provide the future framework for organisational delivery and development.

Our Mission

The IMCG mission is to
maintain the diversity of mires and peatlands all over the world by
- conserving the full range of their natural functions and biodiversity; and by
- ensuring their wise and sustainable use.

Our Vision

Our vision is
that the global conservation network, including IMCG, will be effective in guaranteeing the maintenance of the diversity and functions of mires and peatlands.

Our Values

The IMCG is an open, transparent, and democratic organization that seeks to operate by the following principles:

Openness
IMCG membership is open to all individuals who endorse and - in the widest sense - contribute to the objectives of the IMCG.
"Ordinary members are those individuals who wish to take an active part in the activities of the IMCG. They are expected to become, or already be, positively involved in one way or another with activities that coincide with the goals of the IMCG." IMCG constitution article 4.2
IMCG is open for discussion and cooperation with all mire and peatland stakeholders, including those with other principles, interests, and aims. We disseminate all relevant and available information, experience, and know-how free and without restrictions.

Transparency
The IMCG organisation is transparent with clear responsibilities and rights. Membership of all executive organs is open to all members. Their meetings may be attended by and their decisions are available to all members.
The information we disseminate is accurate to the best of our possibilities.

Democracy
The IMCG wants to be a platform for all conceptions of mire and peatland conservation and wise use. Whereas decisions are taken by majority rule, minority views are given adequate considerations through open discussion.
The IMCG only works within the law.

Organizational structure
The IMCG is a network of voluntary members. The General Assembly of members is the highest decision making organ. It meets at least every two years at a biannual Congress.
The General Assembly charges the Main Board, elected from the members, with the governance of the IMCG in times between the Congresses.
The Main Board delegates tasks and powers to the Executive Committee, whose members are elected from and by the Main Board. The Executive Committee is responsible for the day-to-day management of the organisation. It consists of a chairman, a general secretary, a treasurer, and two additional members.

IMCG Action Plan 2007 - 2010 adopted at the IMCG General Assembly Finland 2006

Introduction

The IMCG Action Plan 2002 – 2006 covering the period 1st January 2002 to 31st December 2006 formulated the following key medium term objectives (4-6 years):

We tried to reach these objectives by

• Facilitating worldwide exchange of information and expertise;
• Assisting coordination of efforts and resources;
• Promoting positive action;
• Increasing understanding and awareness.

The IMCG network has made huge progress in both its conservation output and its organisational capacity within the last years. Instrumental to this has been the prioritisation of its work around the Action Plan, its wide strategic partnerships, its active networking, and - above all - the dedicated, tireless efforts of its members which constitute the network.
 
However the IMCG is nowhere near reaching its potential. As an organisation the IMCG stands on the brink of becoming a significant force within the international policy arena where opportunities and necessity demand its attention. On the other hand IMCG lacks the ability to fulfil this role being limited by its capacity as a purely voluntary led organisation. IMCG considerably ‘'punches above its weight’ and has a good (and improving) profile and membership. With some investment in the organisational structure of the network its output could be considerably increased.
 
To take us further, we need to pay attention to the following:

1. Our strategic ambition. The new IMCG Action Plan 2007 – 2010 should not only be an updated list of activities but must in its sum and consistency reflect what we want to achieve, what we cán achieve, and what we múst achieve.
2. Our profile and membership. Currently the IMCG membership is still geographically biased with the majority of members in (Western) Europe, a severe under-representation in “established” peatland regions such as North-America and SE.-Asia, and its absence in most countries of the world.
3. Our over reliance on a few active volunteers and its risks to the organisation. The organisation must use the capacity of its network, its members, and its partnerships more effectively to minimise these risks.
4. Our financial strategy and management. The organisation needs to generate unrestricted funds to sustain and expand the network, to enable its members to take proactive steps, to raise its profile, and to meet the targets in the Action Plan.

This Action Plan presents the tasks of IMCG for the period 2007 – 2010 (2012). Firstly it addresses the generally low esteem that mires and peatlands have in society (the Cinderella Syndrome) as a root cause for mire destruction. Secondly it discusses the most urgent topical threats to mires worldwide.

Fighting the Cinderella Syndrome

Fourteen years after Richard Lindsay introduced the Cinderella Syndrome concept (1992) to describe the general attitude towards mires and peatlands, the situation has substantially improved, also thanks to IMCG. But “Cinderella is still in the kitchen”. Peatlands are still largely considered “wastelands” - areas with no value and consequently low prices and taxes, providing large areas of unoccupied space. Substantial peatlands are located in coastal areas and along rivers, where over 50% of the world’s human population lives. Their location near to coastlines makes it tempting to convert them to provide infrastructure for towns and harbours. Also, nearby peatlands often serve as urban waste deposits.

Still most mires are destroyed by ignorance, short-sightedness, and stupidity. Still the root cause of mire destruction is lack: lack of knowledge, lack of awareness, lack of appreciation, lack of planning, lack of regulation…

Next to addressing urgent and topical threats, a mire conservation network will have to systematically address these issues, to prevent that we keep mopping with the tap open.

Wise use of peatlands

One of our major instruments is the Wise Use Approach, developed in long-term collaboration between IMCG and the International Peat Society (IPS). IPS and IMCG define ‘wise use’ as “those uses of mires and peatlands for which reasonable people now and in the future will not attribute blame”. The wisdom of a decision or act is judged by balancing the pros and cons of all (direct and indirect) effects on (all present and future) human beings.

Wise Use builds on the strong interrelation of different peatland functions and values that requires an integrative approach to prevent that a partial solution of one partial problem creates a cascade of new problems.

The book “The Wise Use of Mires and Peatlands” (2002) has laid a sound but global fundament for further work. Given the regionality of peatland types and problems there is a need for developing more concrete guidelines and action plans for different regions and sectors, e.g. in cooperation with the International Peat Society and other stakeholder groups. Considering the many threats to mires from energy generation (see below), the options for cooperation with that sector have to be explored.

The paradigm of “wise use” requires peatland users to take environmental and social aspects into account, whereas conservationists need to internalise economic and social issues.

Some progress in putting Wise Use into practice has been made by parts of the peat industry, e.g. by focussing peat extraction on less valuable peatlands, by restoration of exploited peatlands, and by financial support to the science and conservation community.

Wise Use is, however, still far from internalised and the concept is often corrupted to mean that the use of peatlands – for whatever purpose, in whatever way – is always “wise”.

Worldwide many local “wise use” initiatives and actions have been undertaken, often by IMCG members, amongst others projects in over 40 countries financed by the IMCG supported Global Peatland Initiative.

Research, expertise, and institutional capacity

Knowledge and understanding are prime issues in the Wise Use approach. Its implementation requires institutional capacity that has to be created and enhanced by information and training.

The IMCG network, with members from research, administration and management, offers ideal opportunities for exchange of experience and expertise. Important roles in this respect are played by the IMCG website and newsletter. The open access Internet scientific journal “Mires and Peat” will improve the exchange on a more scientific level.

Typical for the IMCG network are its personal bonds brought about by the field symposia and joint projects. In southern Africa a regional network of peatland experts was established by IMCG, including experts from South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia. A similar network has been initiated in Patagonia on the occasion of the IMCG 2005 Field Symposium in Tierra del Fuego.

Inventory and monitoring

Several IMCG activities of the last years have contributed significantly to identifying global mire diversity, its functions and values.

A comprehensive overview of peatland functions and values was published in the IMCG/ IPS book “The wise use of mires and peatlands” (2002).

With respect to the worldwide harmonisation of peatlands terminology, the Ramsar CCGAP has proposed to use a basic list of terms and concepts presented in the IMCG/IPS wise use book. For scientific purposes IMCG has develop its Universal Mire Lexicon. Further standardising of terminology is taking place in the framework of the European Mires Book.

Two global data sources of peatland distribution have been developed:

• The ISRIC – IMCG “peatland map of the world” (2002) presenting the worldwide distribution of peatlands/histosols, based on the FAO/UNESCO soil map of the world (1:5,000,000) (see www.wetlands.org/projects/GPI/worlda4.jpg). First estimates of peatland occurrence in all countries of the world were published in the IPS-IMCG wise use book.
• The “IMCG Global Peatland Database” (2004) with information on distribution, extent, status and threat, and ecological characteristics of peatlands for all countries of the world, accessible under www.imcg.net/gpd/gpd.htm . The Ramsar CC-GAP has proposed to use this IMCG overview as the “global peatland database” asked for in Ramsar Resolution VII.17. This requires a regular up-dating of the database to strengthen and maintain its importance as a global standard.

Since 2002, new inventories – often by or with substantial help of IMCG (members) - have contributed to a better knowledge on the distribution of peatlands in southern Africa, the Andean region, Patagonia, Russia, Mongolia, Georgia, central Europe and Indonesia. The IMCG European Mires Book is compiling up-to-date information of all countries of Europe (incl. Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan).

General conclusions from the available inventories are:

• Peatlands occur in almost all countries of the world; the total area of peatlands on earth is approximately 4 million km2.
• The general inventory status is (very) insufficient and largely outdated; for some regions almost nothing is known, e.g. for large parts of Africa and South America and for the mountain areas of central Asia.
• Eighty per cent of the global peatland area is still pristine, i.e. not severely modified by human activities. Sixty per cent of the area still actively accumulates peat. This pristine area is concentrated in the (sub) arctic and boreal zones.
• The global pristine peatland (mire) surface decreases by 0.1% (5,000 km2) per year, the global peat volume by 0.05% per year. The area of mires is hence decreasing with a rate ten times faster than the expansion of mires during the Holocene. The proportionally largest losses have occurred, and still occur, in the temperate and tropical zones. Fifty per cent of the losses are attributable to agriculture, 30% to forestry, 10 % to peat extraction, and 10 % to urbanisation and infrastructure development (incl. flooding for water reservoirs).
• The peatland character of various ecosystem types is massively overlooked. This especially applies to mangroves, salt marshes, paddies/rice fields, boreal paludified forests, cloud forests, elfin woodlands, highland sedge fens (pastures), spring mires, páramos, dambos, and cryosols. Peatlands may occur in almost 20 wetland categories in the Ramsar Classification System, in over 40 habitat types of the EU Habitat Directive, and in over 60 types of Endangered Natural Habitats of the Bern Convention.
• Inventory data area largely limited to “peatlands” in general. An overview and inventory of mire types is failing on a worldwide scale. This severely hampers the identification and effective conservation of mire ecosystem diversity.
• Changes and trends in the quantity and quality of the peatland resource are not sufficiently detected.

Education and public awareness

The regional and global awareness on peatlands and peatland issues has substantially increased in recent years as manifested in the attention in global media. Global, regional, national and local networks and activities have significantly contributed to enhanced awareness of policy and decision makers. The number of scientific and popular publications on peatlands has grown considerably.

Websites, including that of IMCG (www.imcg.net) and a large variety of excellent national and local websites, e.g. in Russia, France, Ireland, Canada and the UK, have increased access to information on peatlands worldwide.

Peatlands are increasingly incorporated as an environmental theme in educational programmes. Teaching, learning and training resources on peatlands have been developed and promoted especially in areas where peatlands form a significant component of the landscape and culture. Good examples include Ireland (Irish Peatland Conservation Council), the UK, Canada (Burns Bog Conservation Society), Russia (PRP) and Georgia (Tchaobi).

Programmes for peatland planners and managers have been performed in central and eastern Europe (UK Darwin Initiative, Birdlife Belarus and Wetlands International), in SE Asia, Russia and China (UNEP-GEF peatlands, biodiversity and climate change project). The latter project also stimulated the preparation of a “global restoration manual” to provide practical guidance and information exchange for peatland restoration worldwide. The IMCG field symposia specifically aim at exchange of management and policy experience between participants. In South Africa the “working for wetlands” programme pays much attention to training for peatland restoration.

In order to ensure that the importance of peatlands as a global wetland biodiversity resource is fully understood, it is important to develop and implement environmental education, training and public awareness programmes focusing on peatlands.

Policy and legislation

Under democratic conditions, the goals of society are pursued by “mutual coercion set by mutual agreement”: guidelines, conventions, and laws, in which people - in an open debate based on all the information and reasoning available – have agreed freely to restrictions on the realisation of individual preferences. Such agreements are made from the perspective of citizens who take a moral interest in public affairs while the coercion itself (norms, laws) restricts the behaviour of private persons and interest groups who try to satisfy their preferences and economic interests.

IMCG tries to participate in this process of finding and implementing regulation on all levels. The European mires book project reviews the national policies with respect to peatlands in all European countries. The IMCG congresses seek to identify strongholds and weaknesses in national policies. Our work in international bodies and conventions is aimed at reviewing laws and regulations to promote the conservation and wise use of mires and peatlands.

Peatlands and biodiversity

Species living in mires have to be adapted to the special and extreme site conditions that prevail. As a result, mires are in general poor in species as compared to mineral soils in the same biographic region. Many peatland species are, however, strongly specialised and not found in other habitats. IMCG maintains a large database on the distribution and ecology of mire plant species in the world. A similar database on mire fauna has to be developed.

The most important reason for loss of mire species diversity is the loss of habitats by direct human impact (especially drainage). Very little information is available on biodiversity losses and/or changes provoked by climate change but it is sure that these developments are aggravated by human induced habitat losses.

The diversity of mire types is a paradigm example of ecosystem biodiversity that surpasses species biodiversity. Because of their strong climate dependence, climate change may lead to the local, regional or even global loss of mire types. Most sensitive are peatlands in cold (palsa, polygon mires etc.) and oceanic climates (rainfed blanket and percolation bogs, highland mires). For their conservation under changing climatic conditions, it is essential to minimize further anthropogenic stress on these vulnerable peatlands.

Urgent attention has to be paid to the conservation of tropical peatlands. In tropical peatlands, drainage for subsistence agriculture and destructive harvesting of tropical peatland timbers have a large impact on biodiversity.

Undamaged mires are generally resilient against invasive species, but invasion may increase as a result of of anthropogenic impact or climate change (cf. the expansion of the American Sarracenia in European mires), threatening the original flora and fauna.

Peatlands and greenhouse gases

Mires absorb carbon dioxide (CO₂) and store it for a very long time as peat. Therefore peatlands are ecosystems with much more organic Carbon per ha than other terrestrial ecosystem types. The CO₂ sequestration of the world’s mires (approximately 1% of the CO2-emissions from global fossil fuel consumption) gives them a modest but positive role in decreasing atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations and in cooling the climate. Because of the short lifetime of methane (CH4), the ongoing methane emissions from peatlands on the other hand do not increase atmospheric GHG concentrations and therefore do not contribute to climate change.

Direct human activities such as drainage, land-clearing, and fires (combined with climate change) are turning peatlands from key carbon and nitrogen stores to important sources of CO2 and nitrous oxide (N2O). Currently the contribution of degraded peatlands to the total global anthropogenic GHG emission budget (possibly as large as 30 %!!) is fully unnoticed in international climate policy. Emission trading instruments of the UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol are not yet functioning with respect to peatlands, although the Protocol does enable this. Restoration of degraded peatlands is therefore insufficiently implemented as an important strategy in fulfilling Kyoto GHG reduction goals and as an instrument in climate change mitigation.

The Kyoto Protocol currently does not support the „non-use“ of peatland as carbon stores. A change of the policy in this respect cannot be expected, as this would contradict the basic logic of the UNFCCC. Therefore, voluntary mechanisms for carbon conservation in peatlands have to be developed (cf. www.bio-rights.org). These could also support the conservation of peatland biodiversity and the reduction of poverty, one of the main causes of peatland degradation and fires in the tropics.

The peat fires in SE Asia, a global hot spot of peatland GHG emissions, have a huge impact on the local economy, destroying resources for forestry, agriculture and biodiversity. Moreover, the resulting smog affects the health of hundred thousands of people.

Burning issues

The most urgent and significant threats to mires can be summarized as follows:

• climate change and politics
• global energy politics
• peat extraction for plant cultivation
• water stress
• tropical peatland agriculture and forestry in the tropics
• poverty.

In the following we analyse recent developments of these largely interrelated issues.

Peatlands and climate change

The distribution of mires and mire types over the globe clearly reflects their dependence on climate. As mires concentrate in humid or cool regions, a changing climate can be expected to seriously affect their character, their carbon balance and their radiative forcing.

The diversity of mire types is a paradigm example of ecosystem biodiversity that surpasses species biodiversity. Climate change may lead to the local, regional or even global loss of mire types. Most sensitive are peatlands in (sub)arctic (palsa, polygon mires etc.) and oceanic climates (rain-fed blanket and percolation bogs) where the largest changes in climate are expected to take place. For their conservation under changing climatic conditions, it is essential to minimize further anthropogenic stress on these vulnerable peatlands. Especially threatened are high mountain peatlands, where the interference of overexploitation and climate change lead to rapid erosion and desertification.

On the other hand, peatlands also influence the regional and local climate through evapotranspiration and associated alteration of heat and moisture conditions. The palaeoecological record shows that several mire types and their communities in the boreal and temperate zones (e.g. raised bogs, percolation fens) are highly resilient against climate change. As their local climate is often considerably cooler than that of their immediate surroundings, they may play an important role in mitigating climate change by providing refugia and migration routes for species that are threatened by global climate change. This mechanism is illustrated by the occurrence of arctic “relict” species in mires in the temperate zone and by their function as wet biogeographical enclaves within regions with a (semi)arid climate.

Furthermore restoration of large complexes of drained degraded peatlands, such as in Central Europe, may substantially influence the regional climate through evaporation cooling.

Peatlands and energy

In many countries peatlands have played an important role in energy politics for along time. On the other hand energy politics increasingly influence peatlands.

Peat is an important energy source in Finland, Ireland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus and Russia and is used in smaller volumes in many other countries, including China, Indonesia and Burundi. In recent years, technical developments have led to lower, more competitive peat prices, higher energy efficiency, lower emissions and multi fuel capabilities in energy generation. Peat is increasingly used to facilitate biomass and forestry trash combustion. The further development of gasification technology will lead to even more efficient peat use for energy. On the other hand, the deregulation of the electricity market has lowered the demand and created an over-capacity of peat energy in the European Union.

The volumes of peat necessary for energy generation are substantial. It is estimated that by 2020, peat energy plants will have exhausted all peat resources of formerly peat-rich Ireland. As peat emits more CO2 per unit energy and is (still…) generally more expensive than other fossil fuels, peat as an energy source is primarily interesting for regional or domestic socio-economic reasons. In Finland and Ireland employment in the rural area is the most important socio-economic driving force for peat extraction for fuel.

These honest reasons for using peat for energy are corrupted by false argumentation by the peat industry (incl. IPS) of peat being a renewable resource (see box). In Sweden and Finland, peat is being promoted as a (slowly) renewable fuel and has been awarded advantages over other fossil fuels, a position confirmed by the European Commission as compatible with EU competition and environmental protection regulations.

Similar to the 1973 global oil crisis, which triggered a renewed focus on fuel peat in Sweden, Finland, the USA and created the interest in peat for fuel in Rwanda, Burundi, Senegal, Jamaica and many other states, global energy politics and prices are again affecting the use of peat as an energy source.

In east-central European countries, the pursued independence from Russian oil and gas are currently the driving forces for (re-)converting oil-fuelled energy facilities to the use of peat. The recent National Energy Strategy of the Russian Federation promotes the replacement of oil and gas by biomass fuel and includes peat in its biomass concept. Russia receives substantial Worldbank support for its renewable energy program that includes peat. It intends to enlarge its domestic use of fuel peat in order to export more gas and oil to the west.

The Swedish peat industry has in recent years more than doubled peat extraction volumes to currently 11 –12 million m3 a year. Sweden furthermore imports substantial volumes of peat briquettes from Belarus. To replace its nuclear power plants, Ontario (Canada) is considering large-scale peat extraction as an energy source with less environmental impact than sulphur-rich – and more expensive - local coals.

A further increasing focus on peatlands as sources of energy and of alternative raw materials for petrochemical products can be expected with the decreasing availability of global oil/gas reserves (“after oil”…) and the increasing energy demand of developing countries (China!).

This will not only result in increased peat extraction, but also in an increased use of peatlands for forestry and the cultivation of energy crops such as is already happening in Germany (maize) and SE Asia (oil palm). It will be important to stop perverse incentives for energy crop production on drained peatlands and to direct biomass production to already degraded peatland sites and combine it with rewetting.

Global energy politics also affect peatlands in an indirect way. Increasing demands for renewable energy lead to the destruction of mires through flooding for hydropower. In Canada 20,000 km2 of water reservoirs have flooded 7,500 km2 of wetlands and peatlands. In Finland, approximately 900 km2 of peatland are covered by water reservoirs. In Russia, most fens of the Volga valley were destroyed when a cascade of reservoirs was built for hydroelectricity production. Large hydroelectric projects are currently being planned or developed in Iceland, Malaysia, Cameroon and Brazil, largely for aluminium production. Similar developments in other countries, e.g. in South Africa (Braamhoek mire!), Lesotho, and Uganda do not cover such large areas but may substantially affect mire biodiversity.

Rapid expanding facilities for wind energy generation threaten and destroy peatlands in oceanic and mountainous regions (Ireland, Scotland, Lewis, Northern Spain), and may create new environmental disasters (cf. recent landslides in Irish blanket bogs).

Vast areas of peatlands in Russia (W.-Siberia), Alaska (Prudhoe Bay), and Nigeria (Niger delta) have been destroyed by expanding infrastructure for oil and gas exploration, exploitation, and transport or are threatened (cf. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, USA). Road and pipeline constructions not only change the hydrology, but also cause GHG exchange misbalances over large areas. In Georgia (Transcaucasia) facilities to carry Caspian oil to the Black Sea are being constructed in the Ramsar protected Kolkheti National Park. The planned pipeline between Siberia and China will affect peatlands along 150 km. Also opencast coal and lignite mining leads to important losses of mires in several countries.

Peat and plant cultivation

Next to energy peat, the most common current use of peat is for horticulture. The modern production of greenhouse and container crops involves the integrated management of water, fertilisers, pesticides, and growing media. Important requirements are uniformity, consistency, and predictability of the final product. Growing uniform, high quality plants at very high productivity levels demands growing media with the best possible features. Sphagnum peat has emerged as the foremost constituent of growing media. Currently 30 million m3 of slightly humified Sphagnum peat are used globally per year for producing high-quality growing media.

This slightly humified peat is restricted to raised bogs, which only occur in the (boreo-) nemoral and southern boreal zones. Consequently peat extraction for growing media concentrates on a small belt across the globe. Within the EU, this peatland type has become near to extinct and is consequently a priority habitat in the EU Habitats Directive (92/43/EEG).

In most countries of western and central Europe the stocks of slightly humified sphagnum peat (white peat) are nearly depleted after centuries of agricultural use and peat extraction. To cover the demands, white peat is imported from northern and east-central Europe and Canada in increasing volumes. As demands are rising, stocks are decreasing, and good alternatives in professional horticulture are not (yet) available, the threats of pristine bogs being opened for extraction are growing.

On the other hand pressure from environmental groups is increasing, including requests for environmental certification of peat products by the retailers. Since the end of the 1980s anti peat campaigns in Europe, especially in the UK and Ireland, have tried to persuade the public and the horticultural trade to decrease the use of Sphagnum peat. Consequently the British government decided in February 2002 to have 90% of the peat replaced by alternatives by 2010. The peat industry is developing and supplying these alternatives.

The continuing growth of population, urbanisation, and welfare will increase the demand for high performance growing media and soil improvers worldwide. Growing demands are especially observed in Europe, North-Africa, North America, Japan, China and the Near-East. It is important to direct this demand as far as possible to renewable alternatives and to prevent that it leads to the crude destruction of valuable peatlands. In Patagonia and China, for example, the current rapid expansion of peat extraction for horticulture leads to an unnecessary waste of peat and peatlands. In Georgia plans are even made (a.o. by a major Danish company) to extract peat from the globally unique Imnati mire in the Kolkheti Ramsar site and National Park.

For low quality use, such as for amateur potplants and gardening, alternatives are available from composts from bio-/green waste and sewage sludge. In practise, however, high-quality peats are still being squandered for low-quality applications in increasing amounts. IPS and its member industries still uncritically support and stimulate this unwise use in spite of their incessant verbal propagation of the “wise use of peat” concept.

Stocks in short supply, insufficient qualities and non-competitive prices have until now prevented a substantial use of alternatives for peat in high-quality applications. Experiences from years with low peat supply have, however, shown that professional consumers can rapidly and readily adapt to alternatives whenever necessary. A promising future alternative for peat could be fresh Sphagnum biomass which has the same qualities as white peat and which could be cultivated on peatlands degraded by peat extraction, agriculture or forestry. In Germany, the peat industry and research institutes collaborate to develop such renewable raw material for high quality horticultural media from fresh Sphagnum. In Canada, the professorial chair for peatland management at Laval University (Quebec) has adopted Sphagnum farming as one of its focal research objects.

Peat was used as a soil improver and organic fertiliser in great quantities in agriculture in the years 1950-1980, especially in the Soviet Union. This use has collapsed with the general collapse of the Russian economy since 1991. As the Russian agricultural practise of bad humus economy (involving burning instead of ploughing under harvest remains) has not substantially improved, the reviving economy may lead to a renewed demand of peat for this extremely low-quality purpose.

Peatlands and water

Peatlands play significant hydrological roles as water sources, buffers, stores and purifiers.

Population growth and climate change will put an increasing pressure on water resources (fig.1). This will lead to conflicting situations between human livelihood and peatland conservation (cf. Maputaland, S.-Africa) and increasing desertification, but also enable new partnerships where reliable and sustainable water resources are provided by mires.

www.imcg.net last update 06.01.2009